After Arsena highlighted the planet, he continued:
"According to auger scans, Nova Borilia has no starports, nor are there any spacecraft in the system. They may lack the capability for spaceflight."
Nareth nodded slightly. The Nomans might be a xenos species native to Nova Borilia. If so, then his choice of target for the Dice of Prophecy this time had been exactly right.
"Based on scans, Nova Borilia does have orbital defense facilities."
"The rune identification feedback shows that the defenses are small in scale and low in power. They pose little threat."
Arsena pressed a rune on the control staff, and the planet's surface lit up with irregular red zones of varying sizes.
He explained: "There are a total of 134 population centers on the planet's surface, marked according to the frequency of life signals, from highest to lowest, as I–I, III, IV, and so on."
"The data is being transmitted to the Honor Guard, Legion Librarium, the 8th Legion, and the 1st, 4th, 8th, and 9th Vostroyan Auxilia Regiments through the tactical network."
At this, Nareth thought inwardly:
'Once Gabriel develops the simulus chambers, data-sharing like uploading to the tactical network could be instantaneous.'
'We could even conduct war briefings with the efficiency of the Iron Hands. But efficiency isn't everything, most still prefer traditional face-to-face exchanges over sitting in cold seats. 'That way, one gains information beyond the data layer and maintains bonds of sentiment.'
Drawing back his scattered thoughts, Nareth gave his order:
"Commence bombardment of Nova Borilia. Destroy their orbital defenses."
He rose, walked to the holo-image, extended his right hand, and tapped to select the zone marked I.
"Prepare for airdrop."
On Nova Borilia, City of Tur
Human slaves stared in shock at the blinding beams descending from the sky.
"What are you staring at, you human filth? Get back to work!" barked a Noman overseer coldly.
Each of his eyes was composed of twelve rhomboid crystal facets arranged in a honeycomb pattern. Swirling lines ran within the crystals, and when his pupils contracted, they refracted rainbow light.
The human slaves, numb and weary, resumed their toil. In their left hands they held dazzling golden stones; in their right, basalt whetstones, with which they carefully polished.
A skeletal man, too weak to control his hand, slipped, the golden stone cracked under his touch.
"Damn you, fool!"
The overseer roared and lashed him with his whip.
"That was decoration for Lord Breton's palace! Even if you died a hundred times, you could never repay the loss!"
The slave collapsed, blood dripping from his brow as he glared at the overseer in fury.
The overseer, face twisted, showed no mercy for his fellow humans. His heart belonged only to his Noman masters.
The slave did not beg. He knew well that these overseer clans had long abandoned their human identity, serving the Nomans across millennia.
They called themselves the Trois. The wealthiest among them replaced their eyes with rhomboid crystal structures to resemble their masters.
Lesser overseers, like this one, set glass and other trinkets around their eyes to mark themselves apart from mankind.
Begging was long proven useless. The Trois seized every chance to prove their loyalty to the Nomans.
The slave gripped the shining golden stone helplessly. Its glare filled his eyes but gave him no hope.
'When will the light ever shine upon us?'
'Grandfather said that thousands of years ago, mankind did not bow like this to aliens, did not let them enslave and trample us.'
As his thoughts drifted, a thunderous boom shook him to his core.
Instinctively, the slaves scattered in panic. Overseers, startled, shouted furiously even as they ducked for cover:
"Back to work, you wretches!"
The Trois sneered, whips crackling with sparks as they struck at the fleeing humans.
But then, an explosion. The overseer was reduced to a mist of blood.
The Honor Guard had landed. Exiting their drop pods, they quickly took in the scene. Seeing that the overseers had sworn themselves to the xenos oppressors, they purified them with bolter fire.
A Noman, stunned at the sight of the black-armored giants, unleashed his will.
"Kneel!" His psychic command lashed out, attempting to enslave as before.
These newly initiated Honor Guard, though yet untrained in the first level of Thelema discipline, had already begun to temper their will. The Noman's command struck a wall of iron resolve.
Agony wracked the Noman's mind. His face turned pale, his body swayed.
An Honor Guard, the first to recover, raised his bolter and blew a gaping hole through the xenos' chest.
Nearby Trois guards gasped. The Noman master, once thought invincible, lay dead in the dirt.
At the same time, Nareth confronted another Noman. He instantly matched the xenos strange eyes to those described in the blasphemy slate, the one of the main ingridient for the "Telepathist" potion.
"I want their heads."
Eyes were fragile and easily damaged; safer to harvest the entire head.
With that command, Nareth spread his wings and soared. Five hundred meters away, another Noman came into view.
Nareth struck with his mind. His psychic might shattered the xeno' defenses in an instant.
The Noman shrieked, eyes bulging in terror as though he had glimpsed some horror. He collapsed dead, literally frightened to death.
Nareth pressed onward, heading for the domed structure at the city's center, cutting down Nomans with psychic attacks as he went.
To the oppressed humans, the golden-winged black-armored figure was a living miracle. With no gesture, he slew their xeno overlords.
They cried out: "Angel!" "Liberator!" "Xenos Purifier!"
The Trois, furious and fearful, cursed them:
"Damnable slaves!"
They swung their weapons at the humans.
But hope had awoken. The slaves surged forward, striking the traitors with fists and teeth.
The Trois struck back savagely, and though the humans outnumbered them, they were weak and untrained. Many fell in the bloody suppression.
Then the Honor Guard advanced, cutting down the treacherous Trois with combat blades and severing the Nomans' heads.
Nareth reached the city's heart. There, a gathering of Nomans in golden robes surrounded a gleaming pyramid device atop the dome.
A thousand of them pressed their hands to the pyramid's surface, channeling power.
Through the warp-sight, Nareth saw dazzling radiance within the device, psychic energy so immense it startled even him.
'That device gathers their psychic strength to unleash a psychic shockwave.'
Nareth judged instantly. He would not pit himself against it head-on. He had a relic for this.
Pouring his power into the Dionysian Spear, he hurled it with all his might.
The Nomans sensed the terror racing toward them. They turned, just in time to glimpse a blazing point of light.
Boom!
A thunderous detonation.
The psychic shockwave rebounded upon its makers, crushing their minds like a tidal wave.
Screams tore the air. Bodies fell like rain.
The Dionysian Spear had shattered the psychic device, and the backlash annihilated the Noman elite in an instant.
Gathering their eyes, Nareth stowed them in the Kingdom of Disorder.
He also discovered the "golden sunstones" the Nomans used for decoration, was an ingredients for the Sequence 8 "Light Suppliant" potion.
Arsena relayed the intelligence through the tactical network.
Following Nareth's command, the Librarium embedded itself with the 8th Legion to coordinate attacks on Noman cities.
Captain Gurghur of the 3rd Company led his warriors, orange swords painted on their pauldrons, into fourth City.
The Nomans had already rallied, seeking to resist the invasion.
"Attack!" Gurghur ordered. Raising his boltpistol, he fired round after round into the xenos ranks.
Then came their leader, wielding a rune-engraved staff.
The Noman roared, staff glowing, and Gurghur felt a presence claw into his mind, commanding him to kneel.
The "Pugilist" bellowed in defiance. Apart from his Gene-Father, he would kneel to no one.
A surge of power rose within him, scattering the psychic compulsion.
Charging forward, Gurghur drove his charged sword into the Noman's gut. The blue disruption field shredded the xenos from within.
When the battle was done, Gurghur ordered the Shadows of Order to collect the Nomans' heads and sunstones for their Lord.
Meanwhile, Chief Librarian Thomas and his apprentice Nicholas stormed the 3rd City.
Nicholas, sturdier than most Shadows of Order, was Fenris-born and the most gifted of his generation.
Though still undergoing his implants, and not yet a Shadow of Order, he had trained under Thomas as the most promising psychic student.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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